Reed-organ mute



(No Model.)

J. G. BARHUFP 8a R. ALBEN.

REED ORGAN MUTE.

Patented Sept. 22, 1885.

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

JOHN G. EARHUFF AND RINALDO .ALDEN, OF CHICAGO, ILLINOIS.

REED-ORGAN MUTE.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 326,551, dated September 22, 1885.

(No model.)

To @ZZ whoml t may concern:

Be it known that we, .Toi-IN G. EARHUFE and RrNALDo ALDEN, both of the city of Chicago, county of Cook, and State of Illinois, have invented anew and useful Improvement in Reed-Organs, of which the following is the specification, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, in which similar letters of reference indicate like parts in all the figures.

Our invention relates to that part of a reedorgan which is known as the milite, the object of which is to so regulate the admission of air to the reeds that they may be made to give only a soft or subdued sound, which constitutes what is known to the art as the soft stop.77

In the drawings, Figure l represents a top view of the reed-board, showing the mute attached. Fig. 2 shows the front edge of the saine, and Fig. 3 shows a cross-section of the reed-board and the stop-action by which the mute is controlled.

In the figures, A is the sounding-board of the organ, and placed thereon in the usual manner is the ordinary reed-board B, containing tlie reed-cells I1. Covering the reedcells b are the niutes C, which, for convenience, we will consider as being formed of a single piece of wood, although in practice it is usually divided in the middle, as shown in the drawings.

C is the mute, and is hinged to the reedboard on its upper side (as shown in the drawings) by the hinges H. To allow the reeds to sound, the mute C is turned on the hinges H, which movement raises the lower edge, x x, of the mute, as shown iii Figs. 2 and 3, forining an aperture between it and the upper surface of the sounding-board, A, through which the air enters to the reeds by the suction of the bellows.

Heretofore, in organs of usual construction, the mute has been so constructed that, for an angular movement of the same in opening, the edge x m is raised equally throughout its entire length, admitting as great a quantity of air to the reeds at the treble end as at the bass end of the register. This arrangement is objectionable, because the admission of an 5o amount of air suflicient to cause the bass notes to sound at all is sufficient to cause the treble notes to sound with their full power, and an evenly soft tone is not given by the reeds throughout the entire register.

To overcome this objection is the object of our invention, and we accomplish our object by so arranging and constructing the imite of our improved organ that the aperture for the admission of air to the reeds shall gradually 6o increase in width from the treble to the bass notes, whereby each note receives a quantity of air j ust sufficient to cause them all to sound with equal power.

Our invention consists in the new and iinproved construction and arrangement of the mute by which this result is secured.

In attaching the mute C to the reed-board B, we place the hinges H in the line .e z, which defleets from the line of contactY Y, 7o as shown in Fig. 1 between the mute C and the reed-board B. The line z z then becomes the axis of revolution of the imite C, and as the line z e, in deflecting from the line of contact S S, deflects also from the edge x .e of the imite C, the edge x of the latter, when it is turned onthe hinges H, will open wider at the left or bass end than at the right or treble end, and points between, on the edge .r .r,will be on a line between these extremities, as 8o shown in Fig. 2, and the aperture between the edge .t x of the imite and the soundingboard A will gradually and continuously increase in width from the treble end to the bass end of the mute.

By this arrangement the admission of air to the reeds is so regulated that while only a small amount is admitted to the small reeds in the treble notes, and they are permitted to sound only softly, the amount of air admitted 9o to the successive reeds toward the bass end is gradually increased with each, as it requires more to cause it to sound, and all the reeds are thus made to sound with equal power throughout the entire register. 9 5

We are aware that mutes for reed-organs have been constructed heretofore, so that in opening the aperture between its edge and the soundngboard has been greater ab one tothe bass end of bhe mute7 substantially as end than at Jche other, and we do not claim shown, and for the purposes described.

that feature, broadly. JOHN G. EARHUFF. Ve elain1- RINALDO ALDEN. 5 In a reedbrgan, the mute C, hinged to bhe Vtnesses to signature of John G. Earhulf:

reed-board B along the defleebing-line z z, JOHN G. GSIEFKER, whereby, for an angular movement of the WM. B'UCKINGHAM. mute, the aperture between the edge x Vitnesses to signature of Rinaldo Alden: thereof and the sounding-board A will be of GEORGE L. SHAW,

1o continuously-inereasing width from the treble HERBERT MORISSEY. 

